#brodylectric

Brody takes a step into Undique Stadium, looking around at the empty rafters. His heart raced and he felt twitchy. His hands clasped and unclasped into fists, so ready, bring it on. The defeat by the Aether-damn lamp of all things still sat heavy on his shoulders, and he was ready to try again, this time with a whole city’s worth of power to draw from. He rubbed his hands together, static dancing between his fingertips, and searched the arena for Ms. Santana Lopez.

Santana arrived just on time for his current favourite New Age witch, now that Tina had lost her spot. "Hey, if it's my favourite New Age" she called him when she saw him. Sadly she didn't have the perfect nickname for him yet. She named him Truth Killer in her mind, but that would make people question things. So she was still working on it. "Are you ready to train with the great and unbeatable Santana Lopez? I can't wait to really see your skills"

Brody grinned from ear to ear, “Favorite? I like the sound of that.” He preened, tugging at his collar. He was far too dressed up for a training session, but he knew he looked damn good in jeans and a button-up. While he didn’t much care one way or the other what people thought of him, a nice ego stroke every now and then was never a bad thing. “I’m ready, oh great and unbeatable Santana Lopez. What’ve you got in store for us today?”

Santana hope to still have such a practical ally on her side. But well, as long as she owe him a favour, then... oh look, she was even happy to owe people things. That wasn't good news. 'Focus on the training' she though. She liked the mutual compliments. "Well well, do you want to try to hit me with your best shot first? Or you are more of a counter-attack guy?" She asked first. "Oh, and tell me if you are scared of something in particular, like spiders, snakes and such things, it would be a shame if I illusionated it and your had a phobia or something"

Brody shook his head, hands falling to his sides. His grin switched to something a little more devious, lips quirking up on one side. “Hey now, that just sounds like I’d be giving away my weakness for free.” No way was he going to tell the Trickster exactly what he was most afraid of. “I’ll show you what I’ve got first, if you don’t mind.” He clenched his fists, focusing on the building around them. “ << Redirect >> “ He said in plain English, trying to pull the electricity from the network of wires throughout the building, and redirect it towards Santana.

Brody rolled a die with 8 sides. The die showed: 8

Santana rolled a die. The die showed: 1

Brody knows it’s too much, he does. Adjusting from casting in a dark cave to channeling everything from a brightly-lit building in New York City was a huge adjustment, and he vastly overestimated. Brilliant white light sparks to life around him, successfully pulled from the wires. The lights flicker, and sparks crackle across his his skin. “Fuck!” He shouts, muscles jumping and twitching along the lines of electricity. After a moment, they crackle away, his hair stands on end, and his collar is singed. He’d epically failed, turning the spell back on himself, what a great way to make an impression.

Santana smiles at his answer. "Good good, you passed the first test. You won't believe how many people fell for that" then she was ready to dodge whatever he did. Someone who prefered to attack first, interesting. She gives a step back and... the attack never goes to her. She look at him expecting if this was a trick or something... "Are you okay?" She said, a little confused and trying REALLY REALLY HARD to not make fun of him.

Brody runs a hand through his static-ridden hair, ruffling it until it falls into something resembling order. “Aether almighty…” He shakes his head once, twice, trying to clear the fog. “I’m fine.” He finally says through a grimace. He waves one hand dismissively, “Just attack, I’ll do the damn counter-attack thing.” And hope to Aether he didn’t take on too much again. “Unless you have any brilliant training suggestions.”

Santana rolled a die. The die showed: 5

Brody rolled a die with 8 sides. The die showed: 3

Santana wonders if Brody has ever fought in his entire life. She will try to ask in a moment where it sound less like an insult. "Alright" she says and makes an illusion of the same shock of white light sparks around him that she just saw. She tried to think of a suggestion that also didn't sound like she was mocking him "My training suggestion is: try to attack your adversary instead" Close enough.

Brody bats at the sparks running along his arms, for a moment wondering how the hell they’d gotten there. There was no controlling them, no channeling or redirecting them. By the time he figured out that there was a reason he couldn’t do anything about them, he was already out of breath, and officially epically losing. He took a moment, thoroughly embarrassed with his bad performance. “The last, uh, two times you may have seen me cast? Not my best.” He shrugged. “But I’ll take your advice, attack my opponent, not myself, and go from there.”

Brody rolled a die with 8 sides. The die showed: 1

Brody directs another bout of electricity towards Santana, seriously dialing back this time. Unfortunately, he dials back too much, swinging drastically in the opposite direction as last time. The sparks barely reach her.

Santana wasn't even going to try to dodge or make a counter attack. C'mon, this dude surely could do something. Anything at all. She was starting to guess why the lamp won against him. She sees the ball of electricity and it gives her a soft shock. "Well. That was an improvement" She said. "Alright, Brody, don't take this the wrong way but... are you like a New- New Age? Like you just discovered magic kind of way? Or did you ever use it to fight? Cause it's totally alright if your speciallity is removing hex and stuff." Wait, he was weak. But he knew how to remove hexes. This could be a really good chance for her to improve their alliance. "Can you do more than using your affinity?"

Brody rolled a die with 8 sides. The die showed: 3

Santana rolled a die with 1 sides. The die showed: 1

Brody has to resist the urge to cover his face with his hands. If melting into the floor was in his repertoire of tricks, he would have done it by now. There must be something to illusory magic, he could just POOF, disappear. “I’m a bit more suited to…subtle magic.” He allowed. Give him a room of slot machines, and he’d make Santana rich. Throw him in a city, and he could get her anywhere anyhow, all while avoiding the authorities that be. He was an underground player, still trying to get a grasp of the flashier, more obvious magic. “Let me show you the city sometime, and I guarantee you’ll be impressed. But this throw everything you have shit, it’s a bit new to me.” Regardless, he gave the room a once over. A little more focus, maybe, something a little more intricate than just throwing everything he could grab in the room at her. “ << Travel >> He said lightly, focusing not on everything, but on the little wires, the ones that ran underground. He could feel the subtle pulse of electricity, and he pulled it up and out until in zapped to life around Santana. Not a whole lot, but certainly better than what he’d done before.

Santana has to resist all her Mocking energy and try to gain an ally in this. She used all her self-hate to try to not laught in this. And she was succeeding because she really had a lot of self-hate lately, so she could really put out a straight face. She was impressed with herself. Amazing even in her lowest moments. "That's alright, subtle magic is more useful" She admited "Hey, there is a lot of people who can fight, but no one could fucking get rid of that sticker except you. A unique skill can be way more useful...if you can get people to fight for you." She says, with a little smile. "Why? What can you do in the city? Unless you are in the sponsorshit program, it will have to be a three person hang out. But I'll love to" She noted something on the floor and just give a jump back instintively. "Well, that's better... tell me, do you really want... or need to learn how to fight by yourself?" She asks "Because you really have a ways to go, but fear not, my dear Ally, you have me on your side"

Brody finally smiled, just a little. Logic would dictate that he could sit back and let others fight his battles for him, if he just had enough people holding a Brody Sanctioned “IOU” card. “I suppose you’re right.” But then, if things ever went south for him, and they could in an instant, he’d want to at least know how to defend himself. “Would you fight for me, Santana? You are great and unbeatable, after all.”

Santana smiled as it was the biggest victory. "If you keep getting rid of my hexes, I'll fight all the fights for you..." She got close to his side, and made an illusion of a scarecrow. "And you'll have all the credit, partner. C'mon, just say one of those magic words agaisnt that piece of straw and I'll do the rest"

Brody rolled a die. The die showed: 5

Santana rolled a die. The die showed: 5

Brody pats at his singed collar, finally feeling some semblance of normalcy creep back in. “Easy.” He said with confidence. He still looked around the room, however, and ruminated on his own failure. Regardless of whether or not he was used to the subtle workings of electricity, his magic was well-suited for destruction, and he needed to be better. He stood a little taller next to Santana, easily following her orders, “ << Redirect >> “ He repeated, and oh Aether it actually worked. The lights in the room dimmed, and electricity seemed to gather in the air around them, centering into brilliant sparks that shot towards the scarecrow.

Santana smiled "Hey, nice one... it can even be better" She said illusioning the spark into a way bigger, more impressive electric ball, and making the illusion of the scarecrow exploting. What a show. She made Brody's magic circle appear on her hand and some sparks. "Look, while you are getting used to the flashy magic..." She made the magic circle of Brody appear on his hand, and a little thunder ball appeared and was shout. "I can offer a hand, if you ever need to impress some teacher, or whoever" She said while smiling and looking at her nails.

Brody looks down at his own magic circle, honestly impressed. "You didn't want a training session, did you, Ms. Lopez?" He grins. "You wanted a business deal."

Santana laughed with complicity, totally erasing the part of that she actually though Brody could do better in a fight. "Maybe" she said with a shrug. "It depends on you if you accept the deal. Though you have to keep training,of course."

Brody doesn't particularly like the word 'deal,' but he wasn't all that awful at negotiating terms. "You'll have to be more specific about the 'deal' aspect, but color me interested." He looked around the facility once more, "And trust me, I won't be giving up on this training."

Santana laughs a bit. "Don't worry, is not a Trickster Deal, is just a normal deal with a trickster... or call it more an alliance if you must" Maybe Santana was getting ahead of herself, but in her mind they already stole 2 banks together. "If you need to fight or impress someone, give me a call. In exchange, if I need to get rid of some hex, I'll give you a call. That's it." She made another illusory strawman. "Then don't give up, get him"